mobility

Walking seems to be the holy grail of the early toddler months like sleep is of infant months. Once you tell someone your baby is a year old, the immediate question is "are they walking?" much like the immediate question for babies of all ages is "are they sleeping?" (no, and eh, no).

They ARE quite mobile. Avery never really army crawled - she preferred to pile drive her head across the floor - but she's been crawling since 8 months and cruising (with distance) since 9 or so. Quinn army crawled from around 8 months, and at 9.5 months just got up and crawled one day. Now at almost 12.5 months, they move, and move and move. They cruise all over the place. They love the push walker, and love really anything they can use to walk with (tables, ottomans, etc). They can walk holding one hand. But walk on their own? Not really.

Avery will take a couple of steps - I don't think she knows she's doing it - but Quinn won't let go. We do sort of fling them at each other to "practice" walking, but I don't think toddling with propulsion really counts. But, as I want to tell everyone who asks, babies aren't considered delayed in walking unless they aren't doing it by 16 months adjusted. These guys have FIVE MONTHS left to be normal.

I do admit I am looking forward to them walking. We might need to baby proof a little better (um, more than a single gate, though, really, they pullup and stand everywhere so will it make a big difference? growing taller might be more of an issue for us than walking).  But the idea of babies who can walk themselves from door to car (ok, might need to wait on the stairs for that...)? or bathroom to bedroom?  It IS appealing. I also love the idea of a kid who can do more than swing at the park...more things to do to fill weekend hours :)

As a sidebar, Avery seems to be chunking up and Quinn has a bit of a belly now. Perhaps their bodies are holding back on walking until they can pack on some pounds since most kids don't gain much for a couple of months once they start walking?